Bingo Prizes

Bingo can be a challenge in a psychiatric geriatric hospital. I give a bowl of cereal to each player to use as chips on their Bingo card to play. Easy clean up, and not a big deal if they accidentally eat the "chips".

Prizes can be even more of a challenge. Prizes represent success, inclusion, and a reward. However, I cannot spend too much money on prizes. The items must be safe for all patients. The nurses don't want me to offer too much candy due to glucose readings, and I also have to offer something for those who are on special diets.

On a regular basis, I use soft stuffed animals, mini candies, and stickers as prizes. I have also begun to print out things to offer the patients so they can get more than one prize per activity rather than just giving everyone who participated in some way a prize and not honoring those who were able to follow along and had an especially lucky day. An example of this was for "Clover All Over Day"- I printed shamrocks with unique sayings on them and let the patients choose one as a prize everytime they got BINGO. Another example would be to print paper trolls and let them choose one each time they won.